Remember AIM? How We Spent Every Evening In The 90s

Mention America Online or AIM to anyone who used it back in the ‘90s and ‘00s, and they 100% still remember their screen name. It wasn’t only a way to communicate but was also a hobby that occupied many hours of free time. More than that, AIM was the source of many squabbles among family members when someone else needed to use the computer or the landline. Queue up your favorite mis-tagged song on Limewire and let’s soak in this online nostalgia.

It wasn’t uncommon to quickly click on your friend’s screen name to see what kind of away message they put up. Coming up with an AIM away message was practically an art form. Sometimes, they involved TyPinG LiKE ThIS, putting “BRB,” giving shoutouts to your friends, or writing where you were and/or what you were doing. If you were feeling especially angst-ridden, you would put the most dramatic lyrics or quote you could think of as your away message. Many realized the struggle of coming up with the perfect away message only to forget to save it to use later.

Let’s not forget the AIM sounds that basically became core memories. First, there was the unmistakable sound of signing into AOL/AIM in the first place, followed by “You Got Mail!” Then there was the open door noise signifying one of your buddies signed on; if you weren’t anywhere near the computer, you ran over to see if it was someone you wanted to talk to. The new message sound was a rush, especially if you were waiting to hear from your latest crush. There was also the closing door noise, which was particularly upsetting at the time if you saw someone you wanted to talk to pop on only to hear the “door close” noise and see their screen name disappear not long after.

Nowadays, sending pictures via text or email is easy, but if you wanted to send images via AIM, you had to work for it. Many people focused on away messages and conversing with friends, but when you actually did want to send a picture, usually something that was funny or adorable, it typically took forever for the image to go through. One of the worst parts is when you finally got it almost loaded, and someone kicked you off the internet and stopped the photo in its tracks.

Anyone who has ever used AIM will likely tell you they were in a chat room at some point that they had no business being in. It was like the Wild West, where anything goes. You could enter the ones that People Connection started or ones started by other AOL members. There were chat rooms for practically everything from people looking for certain types of relationships to chat rooms devoted to your favorite singer or band.

Since no photos were attached to your screen name, you basically had to describe what you looked like if you wanted to start conversing with random people. The easiest way to get a base reading on someone is to ask them “A/S/L,” which was a way to ask the other person how old they were, their gender, and where they were located. If they decided they wanted to talk to you, they would send you an instant message. Many people didn’t hesitate to lie about their ages, such as saying they were over 21, even if they were several years younger. So uh, yikes.

Two of the best aspects of using AIM were that it was simple and exciting. It was an all-encompassing experience, and – at the time – every aspect made it better from hearing that you got a new email to reading a friend’s away message about what they were up to. The days of AIM are unfortunately gone, but many who got to experience it firsthand will likely talk about it for the rest of their lives.